Hi everybody, sorry to have missed a couple of days but I have been busy and just too tired to gather my thoughts at the end of the day! So let’s catch up!
On Thursday I walked up to the Rift Valley Academy to help out in the fifth grade class simply by listening to some of the kids read to me out loud. The class is small, but very diverse. The first little boy was from Korea and has only been speaking English for 3 years! His book was about outer space which seems to be of universal interest to little boys! He read quite well but in a methodical sort of way so we worked on expression. The second child was Abby who announced to me that she is Korean/African and from Tanzania. She was reading “Pippi Longstocking”, again very methodically, but fairly accurately. I wasn’t quite sure if she liked Pippi or if the librarian had assigned it. The third little one was Henry from Kenya and although he had the most difficulty reading he seemed to enjoy it the most! His book had a lot of play on words and so we had a good time laughing about those. It was a fun morning as I also got to meet the elementary school teachers who are from all parts of the US. I will go back next week.
On Thursday afternoon(See previous post for pictures), I was invited to go to the Women’s Educational Project or Threads of Hope which is located in a town called Mauhi Maui and is at the bottom of the Rift Valley on the main highway into Nairobi. The first thing you are impressed with as you ride through the “town” is the hundreds of “rigs” that are parked along the side of the road. It was explained to me that the truck drivers who are either coming or going from Nairobi or Mombasa stop here to rest and refuel. They engage prostitutes when they are here which is why the town is known as the Sodom and Gomorrah of Kenya. As you can imagine this is one of the reasons for the widespread of HIV/Aids throughout the country. After passing through the town you come upon a large tent village of squatters (IDP – Internally Displaced Persons) as well as a large number of Habitat for Humanity homes which were donated from the US but built by Kenyans. This village is inhabited by people who were victims of the violence in Western Kenya in 2007 and will never be able to return to their homeland either out of fear (because they are the wrong tribe) or lack of funds. Most of them are widows or single moms.
In the midst of this scene is WEP (Women Educational Project) Thread of Hope! It was started by an energetic young Kenyan named John who has come to know the Lord and has numerous mission projects going while trying to support his family as a mechanic. “Threads” is one small room in a concrete building that was teaming with the excitement of 17 women eager to learn a trade and be self supporting. John started this project by singling out a young orphan woman named Florence whom he sent to “tailoring” school and providing her with a treadle Singer sewing machine for which she is paying him back. Florence although only 18 or so, is now the teacher to this group! On Thursday my friends taught the ladies how to make wrap around skirts! If only I could describe to you the intensity of their interest and desire to learn! They worked so beautifully together as they gathered around the one cutting table and carefully cut out the pattern. The finished products (2 skirts) were a source of pride and declared to be very “smart” which in Kenya is THE word to describe something very fashionable! In addition to the skirts the ladies learned how to make scrub caps for surgery. My friend taught them that it is important to look at the pattern and design the cap to make it attractive so that people will want to buy it. Why is this something that has to be taught? Because if you have never owned anything that matched or was coordinated why would you even think of such a thing? As a “wealthy” American I had to be reminded of that.
It was quite a wonderful afternoon, but it did not end there. We took the airport (a overgrown grass strip) road home up the mountain and got stuck as it had rained (and hailed) earlier in the day. Fortunately John put it in 4 wheel drive and got us through, but it was not without its tension! If only I could describe Kenyan roads to you perhaps you would understand the situation...but I will leave that for another day!
********************************
Yesterday, I traveled into Nairobi with several other wives for grocery shopping and fun. Because Kijabe is about an hour from Nairobi this is something that they do fairly frequently. What a contrast within an hour! We went to the Village Market which is a beautiful shopping Center and obviously caters to the upper class. It was fun to see the diversity of people; lots of Indians whose ancestors helped develop and build the railroad in Kenya as well as many cars with UN licenses plates owned by people from all over the world. The Maasi also have a craft market there in the parking lot on Fridays which was fun to visit. They are very, very assertive in trying to get you to buy their products and you never pay what they ask so it becomes a bargaining duel. My kids think that I love a bargain and it is true, but this kind of shopping is very tiring! I was not going to buy anything, but as you can imagine, I gave in!
Then we went grocery shopping at the Nakamutt and out for lunch at the Food Court!!! The trip there is through beautiful scenery and so it was great fun!
Today is Saturday and we are going to be lazy although a man just delivered two chickens to the door that were killed this morning (very fresh mama!) and so I think that I will cook them and make some chicken curry as well as chicken soup.
Love to all and God bless,
Mom and Dad, Nana and Poppy, Micki and Marv
No comments:
Post a Comment